#ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown

[stromuprisahat]

Queen Rhaenyra had neither gold nor ships. When she had sent Lord Corlys to the dungeons she had lost her fleet, and she had fled King’s Landing in terror of her life, without so much as a coin. Despairing and fearful, Her Grace grew ever more grey and haggard. She could not sleep and would not eat. Nor would she suffer to be parted from Prince Aegon, her last living son; day and night, the boy remained by her side, “like a small pale shadow”. Rhaenyra was forced to sell her crown to raise the coin to buy passage on a Braavosi merchantman, the Violande. Ser Harrold Darke urged her to seek refuge with Lady Arryn in the Vale, whilst Ser Medrick Manderly tried to persuade her to accompany him and his brother Ser Torrhen back to White Harbor, but Her Grace refused them both. She was adamant on returning to Dragonstone. There she would find dragon’s eggs, she told her loyalists; she must have another dragon, or all was lost. ... It was raining when the queen’s party came ashore, and hardly a face was to be seen about the port. Even the dockside brothels appeared dark and deserted, but Her Grace took no notice. Sick in body and spirit, broken by betrayal, Rhaenyra Targaryen wanted only to return to her own seat, where she imagined that she and her son would be safe. Little did the queen know that she was about to suffer her last and most grievous treachery.

The Princess and the Queen & Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

Robbed of her throne and treasury she'd need to keep it.

Five children out of six lost, four certainly dead.

Husband she knew her whole life, dead.

Her dragon dead.

Believing she was betrayed several times, often by the closest allies.

All in two years?

After years of bullying she and her children had to endure?

No wonder she couldn't handle reality anymore. No wonder she wasn't able to react to current conditions.

No wonder Aegon turned up as depressed as he did, witnessing his mother go through all that, only to be brutally murdered. Living most of it himself.

#ASoIaF #The Princess and the Queen #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Rhaenyra Targaryen #Aegon III Targaryen #Dance of the Dragons #Blacks #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

Could Helaena’s death have been murder? Possibly…but it seems unlikely Queen Rhaenyra was behind it. Helaena Targaryen was a broken creature who posed no threat to Her Grace. Nor do our sources speak of any special enmity between them. If Rhaenyra were intent on murder, surely it would have been the Dowager Queen Alicent flung down onto the spikes. Moreover, at the time of Queen Helaena’s death, we have abundant proof that Ser Luthor Largent, the purported killer, was eating with three hundred of his gold cloaks at the barracks by the Gate of the Gods.

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

I know these are only crumbs, and I do like weird bug-girl with dragon dreams from the show, but I'd love to see Helaena and Rhaenyra's relationship as fondness at least.

If they wanted a drama between two friends, who found themselves on opposing sides of a conflict, these would be much better choice than aging-up Alicent and ridding her of her ambition and personality.

Two sisters, one raised to hate the other and forced to marry her shitty brother to produce usurpers to her sister's claim. Seen only as a (annoyingly) talking womb.

The other forced to face sexism in slightly different ways- officially more than a breeding mare, yet hated and abused for it. Never respected as a male heir would be.

Another brother of theirs- sexist swine, fond of the first sister- the only woman (aside from his mother) he loves- kills the second's son, causing his beloved sister's child's murder in return...

You see?

It's not that hard!

Tangled family drama!

#ASoIaF #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Helaena Targaryen #Rhaenyra Targaryen #Luthor Largent #Dance of the Dragons #What if/AU/... #Aemond Targaryen #V #GRRM #books #quotes #HotD critical

[stromuprisahat]

When Rhaenyra asked why Ser Robert had not come to meet her, Ser Alfred replied that the queen would be seeing “our fat friend” at the castle. And so she did…though Quince’s charred corpse was burned beyond all recognition when they came upon it. Only by his size did they know him, for Ser Robert had been enormously fat. They found him hanging from the battlements of the gatehouse beside Dragonstone’s steward, captain of the guard, master-at-arms…and the head and upper torso of Grand Maester Gerardys. Everything below his ribs was gone, and the Grand Maester’s entrails dangled down from within his torn belly like so many burned black snakes. The blood drained from the queen’s cheeks when she beheld the bodies, but young Prince Aegon was the first to realize what they meant. “Mother, flee,” he shouted, but too late. Ser Alfred’s men fell upon the queen’s protectors.

Fire and Blood × The Princess and the Queen (George R. R. Martin)

First he "leaves behind" his younger brother, then he becomes the only child and support left to his mother, only to "fail" to save her?

When Prince Aegon snatched up Ser Harrold’s sword, Ser Alfred knocked the blade aside contemptuously.

I'm sure that wouldn't leave a mark on a ten-year-old's psyche...

#ASoIaF #The Princess and the Queen #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Rhaenyra Targaryen #Aegon III Targaryen #Dance of the Dragons #Blacks #Alfred Broome #Robert Quince #Grand Maester Gerardys #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

Lord Borros found the city walls unmanned, the gates undefended, the streets and squares empty save for corpses. As he climbed Aegon’s High Hill with his banner-bearer and household shields, he saw the ragged banners of the squire Trystane hauled down from the gatehouse battlements, and the golden dragon banner of King Aegon II raised in their stead. Queen Alicent herself emerged from the Red Keep to bid him welcome, with Ser Perkin the Flea beside her. “Where is the pretender?” Lord Borros asked, as he dismounted in the outer ward. “Taken and in chains,” replied Ser Perkin.

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

... a hedge knight named Ser Perkin the Flea crowned his own squire Trystane, a stripling of sixteen years, declaring him to be a natural son of the late King Viserys.

First he crowns his charge, then he sells him to save his own skin?!

I can't wait for Cregan to arrive.

#ASoIaF #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: The Short Sad Reign of Aegon II #Perkin the Flea #Trystane Truefyre #Borros Baratheon #Alicent Hightower #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Dance of the Dragons #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

Tessarion and Seasmoke were young dragons, nimbler in the air than their older kin. Time and time again they rushed one another, only to have one or the other veer away at the last instant. Soaring like eagles, stooping like hawks, they circled, snapping and roaring, spitting fire, but never closing. Once, the Blue Queen vanished into a bank of cloud, only to reappear an instant later, diving on Seasmoke from behind to scorch his tail with a burst of cobalt flame. Meanwhile, Seasmoke rolled and banked and looped. One instant he would be below his foe, and suddenly he would twist in the sky and come around behind her. Higher and higher the two dragons flew, as hundreds watched from the roofs of Tumbleton. One such said afterward that the flight of Tessarion and Seasmoke seemed more mating dance than battle. Perhaps it was.

Fire and Blood × The Princess and the Queen (George R. R. Martin)

When you try to make a date out of a battle...

#ASoIaF #The Princess and the Queen #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Second Battle of Tumbleton #Tessarion #Seasmoke #Dance of the Dragons #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

... Tumbleton woke in the black of night to screams and shouts. Outside the town walls, the camps were burning. Columns of armored knights were pouring in from north and west, wreaking slaughter, the clouds were raining arrows, and a dragon was swooping down upon them, terrible and fierce. Thus began the Second Battle of Tumbleton. The dragon was Seasmoke, his rider Ser Addam Velaryon, determined to prove that not all bastards need be turncloaks. How better to do that than by retaking Tumbleton from the Two Betrayers, whose treason had stained him? Singers say Ser Addam had flown from King’s Landing to the Gods Eye, where he landed on the sacred Isle of Faces and took counsel with the Green Men. The scholar must confine himself to known fact, and what we know is that Ser Addam flew far and fast, descending on castles great and small whose lords were loyal to the queen, to piece together an army. Many a battle and skirmish had already been fought in the lands watered by the Trident, and there was scarce a keep or village that had not paid its due in blood … but Addam Velaryon was relentless and determined and glib of tongue, and the river lords knew much and more of the horrors that had befallen Tumbleton. By the time Ser Addam was ready to descend on Tumbleton, he had near four thousand men at his back. The great host encamped about the walls of Tumbleton outnumbered the attackers, but they had been too long in one place. Their discipline had grown lax, and disease had taken root as well; the death of Lord Ormund Hightower had left them without a leader, and the lords who wished to command in his place were at odds with one another. So intent were they upon their own conflicts and rivalries that they had all but forgotten their true foes. Ser Addam’s night attack took them completely unawares. Before the men of Prince Daeron’s army even knew they were in a battle, the enemy was amongst them, cutting them down as they staggered from their tents, as they were saddling their horses, struggling to don their armor, buckling their sword belts.

The Princess and the Queen × Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

#ASoIaF #The Princess and the Queen #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Second Battle of Tumbleton #Addam Velaryon #Seasmoke #Dance of the Dragons #Blacks #V #GRRM #books #quotes #All Hail Addam Velaryon #one of the small heroes of the Dance.

[stromuprisahat]

... Two hundred feet above Flea Bottom, Prince Joffrey slid from the dragon’s back and plunged to the earth. ... The mob was not long in falling on his corpse. The candlemaker’s daughter Robin, if she ever existed, was driven off. Looters tore the boots from the prince’s feet and the sword from his belly, then stripped him of his fine, bloodstained clothes. Others, still more savage, began ripping at his body. Both of his hands were cut off, so the scum of the street might claim the rings on his fingers. The prince’s right foot was hacked through at the ankle, and a butcher’s apprentice was sawing at his neck to claim his head when the Seven Who Rode came thundering up. There amidst the stinks of Flea Bottom, a battle was waged in the mud and blood for possession of Prince Joffrey’s body. The queen’s knights at last reclaimed the boy’s remains, save for his missing foot, though three of the seven fell in the fighting. ... Prince Joffrey’s Tyraxes retreated back into his lair, we are told, roasting so many would-be dragonslayers as they rushed after him that its entrance was soon made impassable by their corpses. But it must be recalled that each of these man-made caves had two entrances, one fronting onto the sands of the pit, the other opening onto the hillside. It was the Shepherd himself who directed his followers to break through the “back door”. Hundreds did, howling through the smoke with swords and spears and axes. As Tyraxes turned, his chains fouled, entangling him in a web of steel that fatally limited his movement. Half a dozen men (and one woman) would later claim to have dealt the dragon the mortal blow (like his master, Tyraxes suffered further indignity even in death, as the Shepherd’s followers sliced the membranes from his wings and tore them into ragged strips to fashion dragonskin cloaks).

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

There's something particularly despicable about mutilation of dead bodies of the innocent.

#ASoIaF #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Joffrey Velaryon #Tyraxes #Riot of King's Landing #Dance of the Dragons #The Shepherd #The barefoot lambs #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

At moonrise the riverlords abandoned the field to the carrion crows, fading back into the hills. One of them, the boy Ben Blackwood, carried with him the broken body of Ser Addam Velaryon, found dead beside his dragon. His bones would rest at Raventree Hall for eight years, but in 138 AC his brother, Alyn, would have them returned to Driftmark and entombed in Hull, the town of his birth. On his tomb is engraved a single word: LOYAL. Its ornate letters are supported by carvings of a seahorse and a mouse.

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

#ASoIaF #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Second Battle of Tumbleton #Addam Velaryon #Benjicot Blackwood #Alyn Velaryon #Dance of the Dragons #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

Only in one respect did the plan go awry. As Tom Tangletongue and his ruffians smashed down the door of Lady Baela’s bedchamber to take her prisoner, the girl slipped out her window, scrambling across rooftops and down walls until she reached the yard. The king’s men had taken care to send guards to secure the stable where the castle dragons had been kept, but Baela had grown up in Dragonstone, and knew ways in and out that they did not. By the time her pursuers caught up with her, she had already loosed Moondancer’s chains and strapped a saddle onto her. So it came to pass that when King Aegon II flew Sunfyre over Dragonmont’s smoking peak and made his descent, expecting to make a triumphant entrance into a castle safely in the hands of his own men, with the queen’s loyalists slain or captured, up to meet him rose Baela Targaryen, Prince Daemon’s daughter by the Lady Laena, and fearless as her father. ... They met amidst the darkness that comes before the dawn, shadows in the sky lighting the night with their fires. Moondancer eluded Sunfyre’s flames, eluded his jaws, darted beneath his grasping claws, then came around and raked the larger dragon from above, opening a long smoking wound down his back and tearing at his injured wing. Watchers below said that Sunfyre lurched drunkenly in the air, fighting to stay aloft, whilst Moondancer turned and came back at him, spitting fire. Sunfyre answered with a furnace blast of golden flame so bright it lit the yard below like a second sun, a blast that took Moondancer full in the eyes. Like as not, the young dragon was blinded in that instant, yet still she flew on, slamming into Sunfyre in a tangle of wings and claws. As they fell, Moondancer struck at Sunfyre’s neck repeatedly, tearing out mouthfuls of flesh, whilst the elder dragon sank his claws into her underbelly. Robed in fire and smoke, blind and bleeding, Moondancer’s wings beat desperately as she tried to break away, but all her efforts did was slow their fall. The watchers in the yard scrambled for safety as the dragons slammed into the hard stone, still fighting. On the ground, Moondancer’s quickness proved of little use against Sunfyre’s size and weight. The green dragon soon lay still. The golden dragon screamed his victory and tried to rise again, only to collapse back to the ground with hot blood pouring from his wounds.

The Princess and the Queen & Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

#ASoIaF #The Princess and the Queen #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Baela Targaryen #Moondancer #Aegon II Targaryen #Sunfyre #Dance of the Dragons #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

History has little good to say about Ser Hobert Hightower, but no man can question the manner of his death. Rather than betray his fellow Caltrops, he let the squire fill his cup, drank deep, and asked for more. Once he saw Hightower drink, Ulf the Sot lived up to his name, putting down three cups before he began to yawn. The poison in the wine was a gentle one. When Lord Ulf went to sleep, never to awaken, Ser Hobert lurched to his feet and tried to make himself retch, but too late. His heart stopped within the hour.

The Princess and the Queen & Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

#ASoIaF #The Princess and the Queen #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #The Caltrops #Ulf the White #Hobert Hightower #Dance of the Dragons #Greens #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

Benjicot Blackwood, the twelve-year-old Lord of Raventree, had come forth, as had the widowed Sabitha Frey, Lady of the Twins, with her father and brothers of House Vypren. Lords Stanton Piper, Joseth Smallwood, Derrick Darry, and Lyonel Deddings had scraped together fresh levies of greybeards and green boys, though all had suffered grievous losses in the autumn’s battles. Hugo Vance, the young lord of Wayfarer’s Rest, had come, with three hundred of his own men plus Black Trombo’s Myrish sellswords. Most notably of all, House Tully had joined the war. Seasmoke’s descent upon Riverrun had at last persuaded that reluctant warrior, Ser Elmo Tully, to call his banners for the queen, in defiance of the wishes of his bedridden grandsire, Lord Grover. “A dragon in one’s courtyard does wonders to resolve one’s doubts,” Ser Elmo is reported to have said.

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

#ASoIaF #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Blacks #Elmo Tully #Second Battle of Tumbleton #Dance of the Dragons #Riverlands #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

... Like the queen they so despised, the Shepherd’s “lambs” were looking to the sky with dread, fearing that King Aegon’s dragons would arrive before the night was out, with an army close behind them. No longer believing that the queen could protect them, they looked to their Shepherd for salvation. But that prophet answered, “When the dragons come, your flesh will burn and blister and turn to ash. Your wives will dance in gowns of fire, shrieking as they burn, lewd and naked underneath the flames. And you shall see your little children weeping, weeping till their eyes do melt and slide like jelly down their faces, till their pink flesh falls black and crackling from their bones. ...”

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

"LEWD and NAKED underneath the flames"?!

I'm sure that's a vital, yet unexpected information!

As if fire didn't consume cloth, and underneath garments, people weren't usually naked.

A+ religious fanatic's logic.

If you can throw in titties and shame, do it!

#ASoIaF #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #The Shepherd #Riot of King's Landing #The barefoot lambs #Dance of the Dragons #V #GRRM #books #quotes

[stromuprisahat]

... [Lord Bartimos Celtigar's] walled manse was defended only by six guardsmen and a few hastily armed servants. When rioters came swarming over the walls, these dubious defenders threw down their weapons and ran, or joined the attackers. Arthor Celtigar, a boy of fifteen, made a brave stand in a doorway, sword in hand, and kept the howling mob at bay for a few moments…until a treacherous serving girl let the rioters in through a back way. The brave lad was slain by a spear thrust through the back.

Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

#ASoIaF #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Arthor Celtigar #Riot of King's Landing #Bartimos Celtigar #Dance of the Dragons #Blacks #V #GRRM #books #quotes #Another brave boy gone too soon. #Thanks to a fucking traitor...

[stromuprisahat]

When he spied Hard Hugh, Roxton saw his chance, and said, “Lord Hammer, my condolences.” Hammer turned, glowering. “For what?” he demanded. “You died in the battle,” Bold Jon replied, drawing Orphan-Maker and thrusting it deep into Hammer’s belly, before opening the bastard from groin to throat.

The Princess and the Queen & Fire and Blood (George R. R. Martin)

#ASoIaF #The Princess and the Queen #Fire & Blood #valyrianscrolls #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Second Battle of Tumbleton #Hugh Hammer #Bold Jon Roxton #The Caltrops #Dance of the Dragons #Greens #V #GRRM #books #quotes #Damn #this is badass! #Shame he died in such a humiliating way!

[stromuprisahat]

Second Battle of Tumbleton

Green and Black armies:

Tessarion and Seasmoke:

Vermithor:

#valyrianscrolls #ASoIaF #Dance of the Dragons #The Princess and the Queen #ch: The Dying of the Dragons: Rhaenyra Overthrown #Fire & Blood #Second Battle of Tumbleton #Greens #Blacks #dragons #Tessarion #Seasmoke #Vermithor #V #One such said afterward that the flight of Tessarion and Seasmoke seemed more mating dance than battle. #Perhaps it was. #The dance ended when Vermithor rose roaring into the sky.